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Rights groups say the release of five women, on bail and with restrictions, was driven by Beijing’s desire to avoid an embarrassing public relations disaster.

Women's activist Wei Tingting, one of the women who was detained, poses in a file photo with a poster saying "no discrimination." (WEI TINGTING / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Chinest feminist Wu Rongrong in 2011, holding a prize for being a "driving force of social change." She was another of the five women released by the Chinese government Tuesday after being held for more than a month. (LU JUN / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Chinese feminist Li Tingting, also released Tuesday, is seen last November, posing with letters and a poster requesting more women's toilets. (LU JUN / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Another of the feminist activists released Tuesday is Zheng Churan, seen in this file picture posing with a poster demanding a Chinese television apologize discriminatory remarks. (LU JUN / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

By Christopher BodeenandIsolda MorilloAssociated Press

Tues., April 14, 2015

BEIJING — Chinese authorities have released five women’s rights campaigners whose detentions for more than a month sparked an international outcry and underscored the government’s tight restrictions on independent social activism.

The women were freed Monday under a form of conditional release that keeps the investigation open for another year and allows formal charges to be brought later, said Liang Xiaojun, a lawyer for one of them.

The activists, aged from 25 to 32, were known for colourful protests that included “potty parity” sit-ins and street theatre to denounce spousal abuse, and their detentions brought international calls for their release, including from the United States, Britain and the European Union.

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said China should “support them, not silence them” in their fight against sexual harassment and other injustices toward women, and #FreeTheFive became a popular Twitter hashtag.

Human rights activists said the release was driven by Beijing’s desire to avoid marring its reputation on women’s rights and creating a public relations disaster, especially ahead of a September commemoration of a key women’s rights summit held in Beijing in 1995.

Amnesty International’s regional director for East Asia, Nicholas Bequelin, said he had no doubt the release resulted from a political and diplomatic decision at a senior level.

“It shows that China does have a bottom line when it comes to embarrassment on the world stage,” Bequelin told The Associated Press. “There’s a price that China is not ready to pay to enforce its prohibition on independent organizing.”

As of late Monday night, all five had either returned or were on their way to their homes in Beijing and elsewhere in China, including the southern metropolis of Guangzhou and the eastern resort city of Hangzhou. Calls to the Haidian District Detention Centre in western Beijing, where they had been held, rang unanswered.

Other lawyers could not be reached by phone, but posted messages on social media saying their clients had been freed.

Under the conditions of their release, the five remain formally under investigation for the next year and must report their movements to police and be available for interrogation at any time. They are also barred from discussing the case among themselves or gathering as a group, lawyer Wang Qiushi said.

The women — Wang Man, Zheng Churan, Wu Rongrong, Wei Tingting and Li Tingting — were detained last month as they prepared to distribute posters and stickers against domestic violence on International Women’s Day on March 8. They were accused of creating a disturbance and, if convicted, could have been sentenced to up to three years in prison. Five others detained at the same time were released earlier.

China’s Communist Party-led government maintains tight restrictions on all forms of public protest, and campaigners say conditions for independent activists have grown increasingly harsh under President Xi Jinping.

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